About States Innovate

American innovation is flourishing across the country thanks to thoughtful governors who work with the business community to create a strong business climate in their states. The Enterprising States study is about championing the successes of these governors. There is no limit to what innovative entrepreneurs can achieve in a strong business climate founded on sound policy. To highlight the most innovative and effective policies across the nation, this year’s edition of the study -- Enterprising States: States Innovate -- analyzes the 50 states through six lenses, ranking the top 10 in six distinct categories. Explore this study to find out which states excel...

Economic Performance

Top-performing state economies are identified using a combination of general economic measures, covering growth, output, and quality of life. The “Economic Performance” category weighted measures include 10-year job growth, two-year job growth, income growth, livability, overall expansion of gross state product, productivity, and productivity growth.

Transportation and Trade

Connections to foreign and domestic markets are vitally important for a state’s economic well being. Throughout the nation, states looking to build their business presence in international markets are undertaking many policy actions, including infrastructure and transportation investment and building trade connections. Four equally weighted metrics determine the top states for transportation and trade, including export intensity, growth in gross manufactured exports, road quality, and share of structurally deficient or functionally obsolete bridges.

Innovation & Entrepreneurship

The importance of fostering and supporting entrepreneurs is greater than ever. Building on and sustaining existing economic momentum remains a key means of responding to the challenges of fostering growth in an increasingly competitive global economy. Six equally weighted measures were used to identify the top technology and entrepreneurship states including academic research and development intensity, academic research and development growth, state investment in research and development, business birth rate, high-technology businesses as a share of all businesses, and the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity.

Business Climate

A favorable business climate can contribute to making a state more enterprise friendly. Business climate policies/practices are comprised of four major categories, including government modernization, regulatory reform, tax reform, and tax credits and regulations. Six equally weighted metrics determine the top states for business climate, including small business lending rate, potential cost impact of legal reform, state fiscal condition, overall business tax climate, U.S. Small Business Policy Index, and cost of living.

Talent Pipeline

Business success is often directly tied to having a workforce with the right knowledge, skills, and abilities to help an entrepreneur put vision into action. Six equally weighted metrics determine the top states for talent pipeline, including higher education output, higher education system efficiency, college affordability, educational attainment, labor force utilization, and the rate of 11th and 12th graders scoring a 3 or higher on Advanced Placement exams.

High-Tech Performance

High-tech growth comes from industries extending from medicine, manufacturing, energy, and business services. Science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM)-related professions currently employ over 7.6 million workers and are expected to grow at twice the rate of overall job growth.The “High-Tech Performance” rankings include six equally-weighted state-level measures including growth of jobs in STEM occupations, concentration of STEM jobs, growth of jobs in high-tech industry sectors, concentration of high-tech jobs, penetration rate of high speed broadband service, and share of counties in a state with at least five high-speed broadband providers

Methodology

Enterprising States is produced by Praxis Strategy Group on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. The report compares states using 35 metrics that measure overall economic performance, and identifies the top ten states in six important policy areas for job growth and economic health. The six policy categories are Economic Performance, High-Tech Performance, Transportation and Trade, Talent Pipeline, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Business Climate. The metrics are selected to capture the breadth of each policy area as well as possible using the data that is readily available. Data for each measure were collected for each state and normalized on a 1-100 scale. States were ranked according to performance in each topic area, using a weighted index combining each set of metrics. In the Economic Performance category, metrics are weighted to favor job growth and income measures because employment and standard of living are the outcomes that define the rationale for state economic development efforts. Metrics in each of the other categories are equally weighted.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Privacy Policy: Your Privacy Rights

Effective Date: March 30, 2015

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce knows that your privacy is important to you, and we want you to know that it is important to us too. We created this Policy to explain the types of information we collect through our Web sites on which it is posted (including mobile optimized versions of our Web sites) and the various social networking platforms that we use (each, a "Site"), how we will use, disclose and protect this information once it is collected, and how you can opt-out of some of our uses and disclosures of your information. This Privacy Policy applies if you are using this Site for personal, family or household purposes, and does not apply to any business entities.

Here are a few general principles to keep in mind as you read through this Policy:

The Site is owned and operated by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America and its affiliated organizations (referred to collectively in this policy as "the U.S. Chamber," as well as "we," "us," "our" and other similar pronouns).

CALIFORNIA'S "SHINE THE LIGHT" LAW, CIVIL CODE SECTION 1798.83, REQUIRES CERTAIN BUSINESSES TO RESPOND TO REQUESTS FROM CALIFORNIA CUSTOMERS ASKING ABOUT THE BUSINESSES' PRACTICES RELATED TO DISCLOSING PERSONAL INFORMATION TO THIRD PARTIES FOR THE THIRD PARTIES' DIRECT MARKETING PURPOSES. YOU MAY REQUEST INFORMATION REGARDING OUR SHARING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES FOR THE THIRD PARTIES' DIRECT MARKETING PURPOSES BY CONTACTING US IN WRITING AT CUSTOMER SERVICE, U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, 1615 H STREET NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20062, OR BY SENDING AN E-MAIL TO WEBMASTER@USCHAMBER.COM.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to any Web site or areas of any Web sites that are directed to kids under 13.

As our business evolves, this Policy may change, so check back to this page periodically to make sure you understand how your Personal Information will be treated.

This Policy does not apply to information that you may provide to us, or that we may obtain, other than through our Site, such as over the phone, by mail, or in person.

IF YOU ARE LOCATED OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES, YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT THE INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE TO US IS BEING TRANSMITTED TO US AND PROCESSED IN THE UNITED STATES AND WILL BE PROTECTED SUBJECT TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND UNITED STATES LAWS, WHICH MAY NOT BE AS PROTECTIVE AS THE LAWS IN YOUR COUNTRY. ALSO, THIS SITE PLACES COOKIES AND LOCAL SHARED OBJECTS ON YOUR COMPUTER OR DEVICE WHICH ARE FURTHER DESCRIBED BELOW. BY USING THE SITE, YOU AGREE TO THIS.

Advertisements displayed to you online may be customized to your interests and preferences based on your personally identifiable information and Web site usage information collected through our Site and other online properties unless you opt-out by following the instructions that can be found here (Network Advertising Initiative) and here (AboutAds). (You have to opt-out using each of your Web browsing applications separately.) However, if you opt-out we may still suggest offerings to you on our Site based on your history at our Site.

Opt-In and Opt-Out

You may have the right to opt-in to or opt-out of certain of our uses and disclosures of your Personal Information. For example, when you are asked to provide Personal Information on this Site, you may have the opportunity to elect to, or not to, receive messages from us by e-mail. You may tell us that you do not want to receive our promotional messages or that you do not want to have your Personal Information shared with unaffiliated third parties by sending us your name, address, e-mail and phone number to: Customer Service, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 1615 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20062, 800-638-6582, webmaster@uschamber.com. You can also opt-out of our promotional e-mails by clicking on the opt-out link within the e-mail you receive. Please understand that it may take us a few days to process any opt-out request and that even if you opt-out of receiving promotional correspondence from us, we may still contact you in connection with your relationship, activities, transactions and communications with us. Also, to stop receiving promotional messages from third parties who already have your contact information, please contact them directly.

What information is collected on this Site?

User-Provided Information

"Personal Information" is information that can be used to identify you as an individual or allow someone to contact you, as well as information attributed with such information. We collect Personal Information such as your name; company name; postal addresses; e-mail addresses; telephone numbers; fax numbers; photograph; gender; credit card and other payment information; purchase, site browsing and transaction history; job history and application information; and interests, hobbies and demographic information. For example, we collect Personal Information when you conduct a transaction on our Site; create an account on our Site; sign up for our newsletters; register for events; donate through our Site; submit forms for grassroots action; make online purchases; enter sweepstakes and contests; complete surveys; contribute to a chat room, bulletin board, list serve, blog, wiki or other social forum on the Site; or submit a comment or question to us using a "contact us" or similar feature on the Site.

A "tell-a-friend" or online greeting card tool provided on the Site and/or in our e-mails allows you to send information about our articles, products and offerings to another person. When you use these offerings, we may ask you for the name and information of the other person, and that information will be protected pursuant to this privacy policy.

Site Usage Information

As is the case with many Web sites, our servers automatically collect your IP address when you visit our Site, and we may associate that with your domain name or that of your Internet access provider. If you visit a mobile optimized version of the Site, we may receive data from or about the mobile phone or devices that you use to access the Site, including type of device and mobile carrier. We may also capture certain "clickstream data" pertaining to your Site usage. Clickstream data includes, for example, information about your computer or device, Web browser and operating system and their settings, the referring page that linked you to the Site, the pages, content or ads you see or click on during your visit and when and for how long you do so, items you download, the next Web site you visit when you leave the Site, and any search terms you have entered on the Site or a referral site.

Among other things, this information enables us to generate analytics reports on the usage of our Site. To opt-out of your Site usage being included in our Google Analytics reports, you may follow these instructions.

In addition, we may deploy various tracking technologies on the Site to collect additional information about your Site visits. For example:

Cookies are small data files stored on your computer or device at the request of a Web site. A cookie assigns a unique numerical identifier to your Web browser, and may enable us to recognize you as the same user who was at our Site in the past, and relate your use of the Site to other information about you, such as your Site Usage Information and Personal Information. Cookies may be used to enhance your experience on the Site (for example, by storing your username so you can log in easily, keeping you logged into the Site after you have provided your password, and storing the contents of your shopping cart as you browse) or to collect general usage and aggregated statistical information and detect and prevent fraud. Most browsers can be set to detect cookies and give you an opportunity to reject them, but refusing cookies may, in some cases, inhibit or preclude your use of the Site or its features. To learn more about the use of cookies, including how to manage or delete them, click here.

HTML5 (the language some Web sites are coded in) may be used to store information on your computer or device about your Site usage activities. This information can be retrieved by us to determine how our Site is being used by our visitors, how it can be improved, and to customize it for our users.

A pixel tag (also known as a "clear GIF" or "web beacon") is a tiny image – typically just one-pixel – that can be placed on a Web page or in our electronic communications to you in order to help us measure the effectiveness of our content by, for example, counting the number of individuals who visit us online or verifying whether you've opened one of our e-mails or seen one of our Web pages.

These tracking technologies may be deployed by us and/or by our service providers or partners on our behalf. These technologies enable us to assign a unique identifier to you, and relate your Site Usage Information to other information about you, including your Personal Information.

By using our Web Site, you consent to our use of these tracking technologies as described above.

Do-Not-Track Disclosures

Some Web browsers may transmit "do-not-track" (DNT) signals to the Web sites with which the user communicates. Because of differences in how Web browsers incorporate and activate this feature, it is not always clear whether users intend for these signals to be transmitted, or whether they even are aware of them. Because there currently is no industry standard concerning what, if anything, Web sites should do when they receive such signals, we currently do not change our tracking practices (which are explained in more detail under the Site Usage Information section above) in response to DNT settings in your Web browser. If and when a final standard is established and accepted, we will reassess how to respond to these signals.

Our third party partners, such as ad networks, Web analytics companies and social media and networking platforms, collect information about your online activities over time and across our Site and other online properties. These third parties do not change their tracking practices in response to DNT settings in your Web browser and we do not obligate these parties to honor DNT settings. We utilize Google Analytics for our Web analytics and you can opt-out from your data being used by Google Analytics by visiting https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. To opt-out of internet-based behavioral advertising, visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices or http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices.

How is your information used?

We or our service providers may use the information we collect from and about you to perform the following business functions:

enabling users to use our Site and its features

processing and fulfilling your transactions

administering the Site and your account with us

responding to your requests, questions, and concerns

market research

developing new features and offerings on the Site

sending you marketing and other communications, including information about products, services, and events, of ours and of others, that we think might interest you. You may opt-out of receiving such notices from us by following the instructions in the Opt-In and Opt-Out section above.

protecting our rights and property

recovering debt and preventing fraud

customizing our Site to your interests and history with us

tailoring ads displayed to you on our Site and elsewhere to your interests and history with us

other purposes disclosed when personal information is submitted to us

otherwise for research and development, analytics, and to improve, enhance and develop new products, services and other offerings

To perform the above functions, we may match information collected from you through different means or at different times, including both Personal Information and Site Usage Information, and use such information along with information obtained from other sources (including third parties) such as demographic information and updated contact information.

We or our service providers may also use your information to assess the level of interest in, and use of, the Site, our e-mails and our other messaging campaigns both on an individual basis and in the aggregate.

Social Networking

We maintain presence on several social networking and blogging platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter. We also incorporate some third party social networking features onto our Site that allow you to share and/or publicly post content or information from our Site to your profile on a third party social network. Through these platforms and features, we receive some Personal Information and some Site Usage Information about you, and this Privacy Policy applies to that information as well. In addition, third party social networking platforms and blogging platforms have their own privacy policies which explain how the third parties that provide them will use and protect your information. If you choose to use the third party social networking features on our Site, we may suggest language for you to post on your social network (such as "John Smith read our U.S. Chamber Blog").

Do we share Personal Information and Site Usage Information with others?

Yes. We may share the information we collect on the Site with others for a variety of reasons. In addition to the kinds of information sharing you might expect, such as sharing with third parties who need your information in order to provide services to us (or on our behalf) and sharing what you voluntarily post to public areas on the Site with other Site users, we may share your information:

with our affiliates

with other third parties for their marketing and other purposes, unless you ask us not to by following the instructions in the Opt-In and Opt-Out section above

with our co-sponsor(s) if we obtain your information in connection with a contest, sweepstakes, offering, or other promotional activity that is jointly offered by us and any third parties

when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights or property, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud or respond to a government, judicial or other legal request, or to comply with the law

in connection with a corporate change or dissolution, including for example a merger, acquisition, reorganization, consolidation, bankruptcy, liquidation, sale of assets or wind down of business

In addition, we may share non-personally identifiable Site Usage Information (including aggregate data) with others, for their own use, in a form that does not include your name or contact information.

Your Access Rights

You may review, update or modify certain of the Personal Information that is stored in our records by contacting us by phone at 1-800-638-6582 or by e-mail at webmaster@uschamber.com. We may ask you to verify your identity and to provide other details before we are able to provide you with any information, correct any inaccuracies, or delete any information. Your right to delete your information is subject to our records retention policies.

Security

While we endeavor to protect the security and integrity of sensitive Personal Information collected via this Site, due to the inherent nature of the Internet as an open global communications vehicle, we cannot guarantee that any information, during transmission through the Internet or while stored on our system or otherwise in our care, will be absolutely safe from intrusion by others, such as hackers.

If you correspond with us by e-mail or using Web forms like a "contact us" feature on our Site, you should be aware that your transmission might not be secure. A third party could view the information you send in transit by such means. We will have no liability for disclosure of your information due to errors or unauthorized acts of third parties during or after transmission.

If you create an account on our Site, you are responsible for maintaining the strict confidentiality of your account password, and you shall be responsible for any activity that occurs using your account credentials, whether or not you authorized such activity. Please notify us of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security.

If we believe that the security of your Personal Information in our care may have been compromised, we may seek to notify you of that development. If a notification is appropriate, we will endeavor to notify you as promptly as possible under the circumstances. If we have your e-mail address, we may notify you by e-mail. You consent to our use of e-mail as a means of such notification.If you prefer for us to use the U.S. Postal Service to notify you in this situation, please e-mail us atwebmaster@uschamber.com.

"Linked-To" Web Sites

The Site may contain links, banners, widgets or advertisements that lead to other Web sites. We are not responsible for these other sites, and so their posted privacy policies (not this Policy) will govern the collection and use of your information on them. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of each Web site visited after leaving the Site to learn about how your information is treated by others.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may change this Policy from time to time. When we do, we will let you know by posting the changed Policy on this page with a new "Effective Date." In some cases (for example, if we significantly expand our use or sharing of your Personal Information), we may also tell you about changes by additional means, such as by sending an e-mail to the e-mail address we have on file for you. In some cases, we may request your consent to the changes.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or comments regarding our privacy practices, you may contact us at: